2012 Benghazi attack: US jury acquits Ahmed Abu Khatallah of murder charges

A federal jury in the United States has acquitted Ahmed Abu Khatallah, an accused Islamic militant, of the most serious charges levelled against him in connection with a 2012 terrorist attack on a US diplomatic compund in Libya's Benghazi. The jury in US District Court for the District of Columbia cleared the four murder charges against Khatallah saying it found the accused not guilty.

Khatallah was accused of orchestrating the attack on the US office in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 in which four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed. The jury, however, has convicted him on four of the 18 counts.

The Libyan man will be facing 45 years of prison. Khatallah is the first person to be tried in connection with the attack. The US military and FBI officials in Libya captured him in 2014.

-ANI